The European Union Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of
Chemicals (REACH) Regulation (EC 1907/2006) places significant new obligations
on the manufacturers or importers (M/Is) of chemicals in Europe. It also places
new responsibilities on downstream users (DUs) of these chemicals i.e. those
that purchase and use chemical products. In particular, for registered
classified substances, the M/I is expected to communicate how any substance can
be safely used without risk to man or the environment.

This communication is in the form of an exposure scenario (ES), which is
included in an Annex to the REACH extended safety data sheet. DUs then have
certain obligations relating to adopting the control conditions described in
the ES. The REACH Technical Guidance Documents lay down the expectations for
the process of risk assessment that M/Is should adopt when developing ESs. But
with many thousands of chemicals in daily commerce, it is also necessary to
ensure that what is communicated to DUs not only meets the requirements of
REACH but is also understandable to these groups, as well as being consistent
across different chemical suppliers and supply chains. In cooperation with
relevant DU groups, the European solvents industry has developed generic
approaches for describing how solvents are commonly used, in order that these
can subsequently be used as the basis for REACH registrations and related
safety data sheet communications on health risk control.

The utility of these approaches (termed 'generic exposure scenarios') is
acknowledged under REACH and they are now publicly available for use both by
M/Is and DUs.

More information

AplusA-online.de - Source: The Annals of Occupational Hygiene